


The One With All The Questions

by DodgerBear



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Best Friends, GW2020, M/M, early days in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25476118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DodgerBear/pseuds/DodgerBear
Summary: Mandy makes Ian do a Buzzfeed best friends quiz and everyone is startled by the answers.
Relationships: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich
Comments: 72
Kudos: 527





	The One With All The Questions

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my shoddy editing I have probably missed the actual day to upload this, but here we go anyway. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts! 🧡

Mandy used her foot to nudge Ian into a more comfortable position and then draped her legs over his thighs. Ian grunted and shuffled down in the chair. 

“Okay, best friends quiz incoming. I am gonna nail this! I’ll read out the questions and we write down our answers for the other person, then we’ll swap and mark them.” She said with a grin and snatched up some paper her brother had left on the coffee table. 

“Ay. Fuck off. I’m busy.” Mickey growled from his spot on the other chair, where he was scrawling numbers on a page as he tried to calculate how much weed he needed to sell to keep the water on. Thanks to Terry doing three months for racially-motivated assault, Mickey was left in charge of keeping the house going. No pressure at all for a sixteen year old with no high school education to speak of.

Mandy ignored him and handed Ian a pen and some paper. “First question...”

Ian glanced sideways at Mickey to try and catch his eye but the older boy was concentrating hard on his paperwork. 

“...what is the name of your best friend’s first crush.” Mandy read out from her phone. 

Ian lazily scrawled a name and hid it from Mandy’s prying eyes. Mandy bit her pen for a minute and then wrote an answer. 

“Question two...what is the name of their childhood pet?”

Again, Ian wrote down his answer immediately. Mandy scowled in annoyance when nothing came to mind. “Ugh. This sucks.”

Ian chuckled and shook his head. “And here I was thinking you loved me.”

“I do! But this is tough! Anyway, question three...oh this is easy. When is their birthday?”

Ian sighed dramatically and made a show of writing his response down. Mandy did the same, signing it off with a flick of her wrist. 

“Number four...their dream job.”

Mandy grinned triumphantly and wrote her answer while Ian had to give it a little more thought. When he was happy with his answer he nodded to Mandy to continue, finally catching Mickey’s eye. He smiled shyly and thought he saw Mickey smile back, but maybe it was just wind. 

“Question five...how many people your best friend has had sex with...”

At that, Mickey snorted loudly and Ian blushed furiously. Mandy glared at her brother. 

“The fuck’s funny, shithead?”

“Nothing. Was just gonna ask Gallagher if he had enough paper for your number.”

Ian stifled his laugh but Mandy shrieked and threw the remote control for the tv at her brother. He batted it away and got back to his numbers. 

“Anyway.” Mandy said pointedly. “Question six! Your best friend’s favorite book.”

Again Mandy faltered while Ian got to writing. In a probably very obvious attempt to include Mickey in their game he called over to the dark haired boy. “Hey Mickey, how many s’s in babysitters club?”

Mickey didn’t look up and just flipped him off. “Only I get to rag on my sister, Firecrotch”

Ian’s blush returned with a vengeance and he bowed his head. Mandy carried on, oblivious to the tension. 

“And seven...their favorite food? Oh easy!”

They moved quickly onto the next one, which was another easy one for Ian. 

“Your best friend’s middle name.” Mandy chewed her lip before jotting down a name. 

“Nine...their biggest pet peeve...”

Mandy growled under her breath. Ian was one of the most easy going people she’d ever known. Even now she had no real idea what riled him up. She settled on a response and hurried to the last question, regretting the game she’d been so sure would be a walk in the park. 

“And finally...their biggest fear.”

Ian and Mickey locked eyes again for the briefest second and it was enough to know that their biggest fears were probably the same. Or at least somewhere close. At that point Mickey stood up, belched and bid goodbye to the losers in the room. When he was gone Ian frowned and turned fully back to Mandy. She sighed and kicked him gently in the ribs. “Alright. Answers. One...I put Roger Spikey.”

Ian screwed up his face. “Eew no! It’s Justin Timberlake.”

“Oh what?!” Mandy snapped. “How didn’t I get that? You kiss his poster goodnight!”

Ian glared at her. “No I fucking don’t. I put Leonardo DiCaprio for you.”

“Damn it. Yeah. Childhood pet?”

“Never had one. Unless you count Frank. Fiona is allergic to everything.”

“Damn it fuck! I guessed you had a fish.”

Ian laughed merrily. “Nope. We’ve got a fish tank. But no fish. I said a cat called Boris.”

“HOW THE FUCK DID YOU KNOW THAT?” Mandy was apoplectic with rage. Ian couldn’t admit he’d heard it from Mickey so he shrugged. 

“Just heard you talk about it once.”

“Jesus Christ.” Mandy huffed. “Okay. I definitely know your birthday! It’s May 8th!”

“Or...the 9th.”

“FUCK OFF!”

“I can’t help the day I was born!” Ian laughed. “And yours is December 31st.”

“FUCK OFF!”

Ian dodged the cushion aimed at his head. “You were close!”

“Dream job.” Mandy pushed on, unimpressed. “I went for GI Joe.”

Ian squinted. “Actually I wanna be an army medic.”

“I said Army!”

“Yeah, but it’s the medic thing I wanna be.”

“I need a point for that.” Mandy’s arms crossed over her chest in a way that made Ian think of Mickey. The siblings were so similar in so many ways. Ways that Ian couldn’t let on to either of them. 

“Take the point.” Ian agreed. “You’re a future fashion designer.”

“Ugh!! Okay...your sex number...since you’re a bit of a slut I went for five.”

Ian shot her a dirty look. “It’s three! Jesus Mandy. I like sex but I don’t whore myself out.”

“Just three? Seriously?”

“Yes! I went for nine for you. I could name seven and I added two for inflation.” Ian joked. 

“Jesus Christ Ian! You’re guessing and you’re hitting better than me!” Mandy pouted. 

“I pay attention.”

“So do I!”

Ian squeezed her ankles and chuckled. “It’s fine. Come on. Next.”

“Favorite book. I went for Muhammad Ali’s autobiography. You read it last month and talked about stinging butterflies for ages.”

Ian’s face froze and he bit down on his cheeks to hold back his laugh. He hated that Mandy thought she was dumb, but sometimes she really didn’t help her own cause. “Not quite,” he replied. “It’s To Kill A Mockingbird.”

“Oh man! Really?”

Ian nodded. “Yeah. It’s good. Thought provoking. I couldn’t pick one for you so I went for Twilight or the Harry Potter one where they do the wizard tournament.”

Mandy slumped back in the sofa and softly kicked out at Ian. “It’s the tri-wizard tournament, you heathen! And yes. That’s right.”

Ian smoothed his hand down her shin. “Sorry.”

Mandy reached out and squeezed his hand. “Why are you so much better at this?”

He smiled softly. “I guess you’re just more of an open book.”

She checked her notes. “Favorite food. Alright! I got this. I went for nachos, since that’s what we always get.”

Ian shook his head nervously. “Almost. We get nachos because I like to share with you. My favorite is a chicken burrito. Your answer is nachos.”

“FUCK FUCK FUCK YOU!” Mandy couldn’t help but giggle. “You’re an asshole.”

“You’re always so close!”

“I didn’t know your middle name so I guessed Frank. Or Francis.”

Ian rubbed her ankle. “Nice try, but Carl got that dubious honor. Mine is Clayton.”

“Clayton? Holy fuck. I don’t have one.”

Ian nodded once. “I know.”

They fell silent and a tear rolled down Mandy’s face. He reached out and grabbed her wrists, pulling her into a hug. 

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does. I didn’t know your pet peeve or your biggest fear.” She wailed. “I had to guess and I’m sure I got them wrong.”

“Did you guess people dropping their money on the counter instead of putting it in my hand and that I will fall in love with a guy who has to act straight?”

“No!” Mandy whimpered. “I said people talking during a movie and spiders.”

“Well I fucking hate spiders.” Ian agreed. “But I’m more scared of falling for a guy I’ll never have.”

“Oh my GOD Ian! I didn’t get any right. I’m a horrible best friend!” Mandy cowered into his side. “I bet you knew mine!”

“People who chew with their mouth open and confined spaces.”

“Fuck off. Fuck off. Fuck off.” Mandy squealed with laughter and wrestled Ian into a tight hug. 

Ian tossed her phone onto the chair Mickey had vacated long ago. “Stop. We don’t need Buzzfeed to tell us if we’re best friends. Of course you’re my best friend. I love you, Mands.”

She nuzzled into his chest and rested her head in the crook of his neck. “I love you too.”

Ian walked home when night fell. The temperature had dropped to almost freezing so he zipped up his parka, pulled up his hood and buried his hands in his pockets. His fingers closed around a scrap of paper and he had to wait until the next streetlight before he could read what had been scrawled on the paper. 

_Justin Timberlake._

_Frank._

_May 9th._

_Some kind of doctor or medical type thing._

_Three. But that pedo at the store really shouldn’t count._

_To Kill A Mockingbird._

_Chicken burrito. With the spicy beans and lime rice._

_Clayton._

_Customers tossing their coins on the counter so you have to pick them up._

_Falling for a guy like me._

Ian had to grab onto the streetlight to steady himself. Mickey’s writing was unmistakable. Ian took deep breaths to steady himself before he turned on his heel and marched the five blocks back to the Milkovich house. 

It was late. Gone midnight and all the lights were out. Ian tried the front door in case it had been left open, but it was firmly locked. Instead, he made his way around the side of the house to the window he knew led to Mickey’s room. He tapped twice on the dirty glass and waited. When nothing happened he tapped again, harder and four times this time. A second later a bleary-eyed Mickey appeared and shoved open the window. 

“Gallagher?”

Ian couldn’t hide his grin as he hauled himself into Mickey’s bedroom. He pushed the older boy backwards until he flopped back into the bed and Ian crawled up his body. Mickey didn’t kiss. He’d never allowed it before and Ian didn’t want to push his luck. He hovered over Mickey’s face and grinned with delight. Sapphire blue eyes gazed up at him, wide with fear and anticipation. The indecision danced on his face until he couldn’t take it anymore. He grappled with Ian until he was beneath him and they we’re grinding against each other. Faster than the speed of light Ian pecked Mickey’s lips and pulled away. 

“You’re my best friend too, Mick.”


End file.
